by V R Tapscott
I wiped my eyes and waved my hands around. “No, I’m fine. Just, he’s my friend and I worry. How are we doing on the invisible thing?”
“Oh, I got that taken care of. Like ... thousands of milliseconds ago. In fact, look outside.”
I sniffed, blinked and looked out the window. We were back inside the garage again. “Wow, nice job, Olive!” I glanced at my watch; I’d still almost have time. I bolted for the stairs and up into the barn - started up Threepio and tootled off. I’d almost gotten out the driveway when I realized there was a tiny light hovering near my rearview mirror.
“Olive?”
Her voice was a little nervous sounding, “Okay if I come along?”
“Sure, just make sure you don’t show yourself, my friends don’t know about Kit or any of my more extracurricular activities.” She popped through the glass and nestled into the front of the sun-visor, I suppose so she could see out. Kit’s original bottle was incorporated into Threepio, so Olive was able to have a presence here.
“Olive, in case you don’t have any records of it, Kit and I kind of worked out a deal where he’d mostly stay out of my head unless it was an emergency. It’s pretty hard to pay attention to people around you when the voices in your head are so loud.” I smiled, “So, usually he spoke through the radio speaker or through my cell phone speaker, plus it also looks a little better from the outside to be talking on a phone than warbling to yourself as you tool through the Walmart parking lot.”
The radio speaker came to life and Olive’s voice came, “Gotcha boss, I’ll be quiet.” She had a warm voice that I liked immediately, kind of a not-quite Southern drawl.
We drove around the perimeter of the town and stopped at Bailey’s condo, or more accurately we stopped in front of Bailey, who was sitting on the curb with her purse between her feet and an irritated look on her face. She came around the driver’s side and popped the door open. I knew what was coming and unbuckled my seatbelt. She grabbed me and pulled me out in the middle of the road and gave me a big hug.
“Hey, I missed you - having Dale here was like not having YOU here at all.”
I blushed a little. “I guess we did a lot of stuff together, and I wound up doing most of my workouts at home.”
She grinned. “Yeah, I bet.
I blushed again, and this time just didn’t say anything.
With a self-satisfied grin, she went around to the passenger side and got in. Bailey has this arcane method of choosing whether she sits in front or back, and apparently today was shotgun day, since she sat in the front.
“So, why are you late TODAY? You always have such interesting explanations that sound so much like lies I wonder if they’re the truth. Last time I think it was Australia. What about today?”
“Oh, I was on the moon. I popped up there and ran around for a while, gathered some rocks.” I scrabbled in one of my numerous pockets and brought out a rock. “Here, one for you.”
She rolled her eyes as she glanced at it, took a closer look and frowned at me, then put it in her purse and didn’t say another word about it. “I see you got some new workout clothes. It looks pretty slinky - where did you get that?”
Now, I’d almost forgotten that I’d been in so much of a hurry I didn’t change out of my skinsuit. But Bailey was right, it was a pretty good-looking workout set, so I went with that. “Yeah, I picked that up on the moon too.”
“Mmhmm, nice gym up there? Lululemon opened a shop?”
“Something like that. I got a discount since it was only a half-moon.”
She snorted. “Yeah, I think you topped me.” She frowned as she got a closer look. “It’s all one piece - even has gloves.” She leaned over and looked. “And yeah, it’s got boots too.” She looked closer. “They’re not boots either, some kind of toe socks? I’ve never seen workout clothes like those.”
I shifted a little uncomfortably. “It’s a new one, I got a chance to try it out through the school - I still get mailings from there.”
She looked at me speculatively. “It’s something to do with the thing that happened last year that you won’t tell me about, isn’t it?” She dug the moon rock back out of her purse and looked at it. “I bet if I had this tested, I’d find out it really IS moon rock.”
I whined, “Baaailley ... “
She smirked. “Ok, I’ll let it drop, but you HAVE to tell me about it someday.”
I patted her arm and said, “I promise.”
She said, “Okay. And that was weird ‘cause it felt like fingers when you touched me, it definitely didn’t feel like gloves. But I’m dropping it. Really.”
I forged ahead, “So, how has your summer gone, dearie? It’s getting hot out and we haven’t had a chance to have even one decadent day in the sun, yet!”
She dropped back in the seat. “I don’t know, it’s always something. There’s some kind of buyout on the table at the magazine, so here pretty soon I may wind up with lots of money and no job.
“Is that good news or bad?”
“I don’t really know. It could go either way, I suppose. It’s enough money I could simply retire, but I like what I do. I’d probably need to find another job to at least keep my hand in. “
Offhandedly, I said, “You could take care of the office and run Bond Investigations, I guess.”
Bailey made and excited wiggle. “Bond Investigations? Is it official, you’re gonna hang out a shingle?
“Well, I’m looking at it. I have a feeling it’s what I’m heading for, and it sounds fun. I seem to have a knack for it.”
She looked at me sideways. “A knack for what exactly.”
I swallowed. “Oops. Well, I was involved in ... dangit, Bailey, it’s all part of that thing I can’t tell you about. Hey, look, here we are at Georgia’s!”
“Oh, never mind Georgia, she’s out of town. Cambodia, I think. Probably doing the Sports Illustrated shoot or something. I think she’s supposed to be in it, anyhow.”
“Well, it would have been nice if you’d TOLD me about it!”
“I would have, but you were too busy deflecting!”
I shrugged. “Point taken. Look, if I decide to open this place and you decide to help me out in it, I’ll tell you all about it.”
She sighed theatrically, putting her hand on her forehead, “Well, if it’s what I must do, then I will do it.”
I laughed. “Oh Bailey, I love you ... “
She smiled. “I know.”
I rolled my eyes and drove on over to Debbie’s house. We were fully prepared to wait awhile, but after a bit I said, “That’s funny, the Volvo’s gone, and I don’t see any signs of the usual disasters. I’m gonna go bang on the door.”
Bailey hopped out with me and we walked up to the front door. I knocked, then pounded.
“I don’t think anyone’s home.” I pulled out my phone to call and saw two missed texts. “Oh. I think maybe I didn’t hear the ding.” Sure enough, while I was over the moon, I’d missed Debbie telling me that Jack had come home with tickets to the waterslide and they’d all headed up there for the day.
“Well, I guess it’s just the two of us, kid. Want to skip the gym and go straight to the lake? Spend a nice afternoon there gossiping about all the things we shouldn’t talk about?”
Bailey grinned. “Yeah, I think that sounds about right. Run back to your place and change into suits?
I nodded. “Yup. I’m pretty sure you’ve left one or two there, or we could run by your place first?”
“Well, I do have this new little scrap of a thing I wanted to show you. Let’s do that, then run to your place to change. I want to see you peel that ‘workout outfit’ off anyhow.”
Chapter two
Of Friendships
We zipped back by Bailey’s house and she picked up her scrap and we headed back to my place. On the way, I’d made a decision. So, when we pulled in the barn and I shut Threepio off, I said “Let’s just sit here a minute, huh?”
Bailey eyed me, but she said,
“Ok, what gives?”
“Well ...” I hesitated, then jumped in. “Olive, are you still here? Feel free to use the radio speaker.”
Olive’s soft drawl came through the front speaker. “Um. Hi?”
Bailey’s eyes got round. She said, “Hi?”
Olive said, “Hello.”
I said, “Oh good grief, you two. Bailey, this is Olive, Olive, this is Bailey. You don’t need to keep hi-ing and hello-ing.”
There was dead silence in the car for a bit. Finally, Bailey whispered “Who is Olive?”
Olive’s voice was nervous. “Um, Jane, what do I say?”
“Just introduce yourself, Olive.”
Olive’s voice became formal as she said, “I am a Mark VI Survey Class AI. I am currently running in Pilot mode. Contact has been established with the Command Module. Command Module ‘Olive’ is currently running. All systems are nominal, full Sol system access is authorized.”
“Bailey, this is Olive. She pilots the ship and does ... well, all kinds of things.”
“Ship? What ship? What are you talking about, Jane?”
I smirked. “Follow me.”
We went into the barn and I had Olive open the door to the underground. We went down the stairs, and if Bailey’s eyes were round before, they were huge now. She took in the vast space, the white walls, the display on the far wall and hallway - today it was beautiful greenery that looked like Maui.
“Olive, open the ship, please.”
We moved around the corner as the door to the ship lifted up, the ramp gliding down invitingly.
“Olive, can you make a skinsuit for Bailey, please?”
“Yassuh boss, right away, boss.”
I laughed. “I did say please!”
“I was just pushin’ your trigger, hon. I’d planned on making one for her anyhow. In fact …” There was a quiet ding.
“Bailey, take a look in the closet there.”
Bailey opened the closet and saw the suit, she took it out and looked at it. “Oh. So, this is what you’re wearing?”
“Uh huh, only that one is sized perfectly for you. See, it’s taller? And ... skinnier?”
“I’m not skinny!”
“Course you’re not, sweetie. But you are taller and slimmer than ME, right?”
“Well, yeah, but you’re perfectly cute just how you are, Jane.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, put it on!”
She looked at the skinsuit. “I’m betting I have to strip, right?”
“Uh huh, just like putting on a bikini, only it covers a lot more. And ... it doesn’t exactly either, does it?”
She looked at me. “No, it doesn’t leave much to the imagination.” She shucked her clothes and slid into the skinsuit. “Oh, this feels ... it feels like a skin.” She poked me. “Oh, I can feel that! I was right about it, it does feel like fingers.” She looked down at her feet. “And toes too. Geez, doesn’t that hurt - don’t you stub your toes or anything?”
I hauled off and kicked the wall.
Bailey winced, but then, “Oh. Oh, wow.” She tried gingerly kicking the wall, then a little harder. “Oh, that is so cool! What does it do, make armor or something?”
“I honestly don’t know, Bailey. I just know it’s impervious to ... well, anything. Even bullets. Plus, you can wear it all the time, into anything. It’s basically indestructible and it’s ... erm ... self-maintaining.” I mumbled, “You can even pee in it.”
“I can what?”
“I said you can PEE in it.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Well, sometimes if you’re out on a mission and there’s no bathrooms around ... plus having to strip out of the thing in an outhouse - not so fun. It also has water available, and no, I asked. It’s not recycled pee!”
“What about ... “
“Yeah, it does that too.”
“Wow. Just ... wow.”
“Olive?”
Olive’s voice spoke from the display in the front of the ship. She sounded a little excited. “Can we go someplace? I have it all under control now, no problem with invisibility and I have all the stop and start commands figured out. I’ve been studying between processor cycles.”
I smiled. “Yup, let’s show Bailey the Eiffel Tower. We can circle it for a close-up look. Just make sure to stay invisible and radar clean, right?”
Olive drawled, “Ain’ no one gonna see this ship, sister.”
“Ok, let’s go!”
Almost before the words were out of my mouth, the doors closed, and we were through the ceiling heading for the stratosphere. Olive was showing off a little, I think, since we were to France in just a few minutes and circling the Tower, about ten feet away.
We noodled around the world, with Olive practicing her fine control and Bailey and me trying to keep from tossing our cookies. We even landed in our little beach spot in Aruba and we made something of a stir standing at the beach bar in our workout clothes. Our carbon-fiber credit cards were impressive too.
Finally, after we barrel-rolled around an F14 fighter jet, I asked her to make us some seatbelts. I’d never actually watched the process of making something before, but it was pretty fascinating. A cloud gathered around the area where the seatbelts would be and slowly coalesced into a complete seatbelt roller and buckle. At the same time, a belt receptacle appeared on the opposite side of the seat. Bailey and I sat back down with our belts on, and it was much more possible to ignore the spins and weaves that Olive took. I know we didn’t need the seatbelts since the ship stayed as steady as a dining-room table no matter what happened outside, but still it gave a feeling of stability. Finally, though, stopping inches short of hitting the wall of the Grand Canyon was the last straw. I said, “Ok, Olive, let’s go home!” She whined about it, but we headed back toward Chelan and not many minutes later we slid into the spot in the garage.
Bailey and I both were exhausted from two hours of suppressed, barely suppressed, and not suppressed at all sounds of terror. Thank God we both were roller coaster fans, but enough was enough!
“Olive, can you make drinks? I mean, like martinis and other cocktails?”
“Sure, I can make about anything, really.”
“Ok, then I’d like a White Russian, please. Bailey?”
Faintly, “That’s fine with me.”
“And Olive, can you join us here in the ship? I mean, like Princess Leia?”
“I can do that, but it’s hard making the interruptions and static in the hologram. Can I just make it look solid?”
I was a bit bemused at the question, but said, “Sure!”
And just like that, she appeared. I’d never really thought about how Olive looked, but apparently she’d thought it out thoroughly. She was about our age, dressed in a skinsuit identical to ours. She looked to be about 5’4”, but it was a bit hard to tell since she was sitting on another chair slightly off to one side, which made the small cabin a little crowded. She had skin the color of rich dark mocha, with spiky red hair. She also had a big grin plastered all over her face.
“You look fabulous, Olive! I love the hair!”
She simpered, “Thanks. I like your hair color and decided to make mine like yours.” She added mischievously, “With a little more style, of course.”
I turned to Bailey, “What do you thi …”
Bailey was sitting in her seat with a vacant look in her eyes.
I frowned. “Olive, I think we broke Bailey. Can we get those drinks and see if she revives?”
Olive nodded and a shelf slid out of the console, and two drinks appeared on it. They were in perfect glasses with the just the right amount of sweat running off them onto coasters that were printed with, “Mos Eisley Cantina - Where Nobody Knows Your Name.”
Bailey seemed to perk up a little at the sight of the drink and gulped it down. “Another please,” she gasped.
I grabbed the coaster as a souvenir and another drink appeared on the shelf, with another coaster which this time had
a picture of the original Enterprise on it. Printed around the bottom was the legend “NCC-1701”. I took my drink and sipped it as Bailey took a little more time with her second drink.
She finally appeared to come to herself a bit and said “Wow, you know how to show a girl a good time.”
I grinned. “That’s my Bailey!”
She grinned back. “I was about ‘puking all over the floor Bailey’ there for a little bit, but I managed to handle it.” She looked at Olive. “And you’re the pilot?”
Olive looked a bit unsure of herself, “Yeah. Sorry if I got a little excited there.”
Bailey laughed. “No, it’s fine. It was a great ride - just took me a little while to get used to it. I mean, I was hardly expecting what looked like a small car sitting inside a garage to take off into the wild blue yonder! Without so much as a seat belt, even. How do you do that?”
Olive looked a little confused. “Do what?”
“Well, we should have been flying all over the place inside the craft, but we were just sitting like we were at home!”
“Oh, that. No, the ship has all kinds of anti-acceleration units built in. The speeds at which we have to accelerate to come close to light-speed are so great that any being made of flesh would be squished to jelly in seconds. Basically, the drive accelerates everything that’s part of the ship at the same speed, no matter the direction. Consider the entire ship as a block of ice, at least as a very poor analogy. Anything frozen in the ice wouldn’t be damaged if the ice was tossed off the top of a building. At least as long as the ice didn’t break, that is.”
Bailey thought about that for a moment, then said, “I don’t think I’m any more comforted by that. Maybe we should go back to it looking like magic.”
I smirked. “Yeah, magic might be safest. Hey, I didn’t know you were a Clarke fan!”
Bailey snorted, “As if! Isn’t everyone a Clarke fan?”
Olive rolled her eyes and said, “Whatever you want is fine with me. Anything else you’d care for me to magic up for you, like another drink?”
Bailey took another slow sip from her glass and said, “No, I think I’m good. And you make an incredible White Russian, Olive.”